THE first poll in a campaign to decide Britain’s future with the ­European Union has ended in an overwhelming vote in favour of a referendum on our membership.

A total of 89.9 per cent of those voting in the local poll held by the People’s Pledge organisation wanted a national referendum, with only 10.1 per cent rejecting the idea.

Campaigners last night hailed the ground-breaking poll in Thurrock, Essex, as “historic” and warned that MPs could no longer deny people a say on whether we should be in or out of the EU.

The cross-party People’s Pledge campaign described the results as a “wake-up call” for the Westminster establishment. Eurosceptic Labour MP Kate Hoey, a former minister and one of 64 MPs and more than 100,000 members of the public backing ­People’s Pledge, said: “This amazing result should be a wake-up call for all MPs who have said Europe is not an important issue.

“Thurrock has shown that voters who want a referendum in marginal seats will have real power to decide the outcome of the election.

This amazing result should be a wake-up call for all MPs who have said Europe is not an important issue

Eurosceptic Labour MP Kate Hoey

“I visited Thurrock during the campaign and was impressed with the enthusiasm for the Pledge campaign.

“There is huge disenchantment with all the mainstream political parties with their failure to keep their promises on a referendum on the EU.

“Today a clear message has gone to MPs who oppose giving the British ­people a say – listen to us or lose our vote.”

The Daily Express has backed demands for a national referendum for Britain to shed the shackles of Brussels in our crusade, Get Us Out Of The EU.

People’s Pledge plans several more local referendums this year and another 100 next year to intensify ­pressure on politicians to grant voters a choice.

As the Thurrock poll closed at 5pm yesterday, campaign director Ian McKenzie said the turnout was “truly astonishing”. He added: “It proves two things. First, that electors will respond to political activity that engages them. Second, the political ­parties at Westminster are going to have to rethink their attitude. ‘Heads in sand’ is no longer a viable strategy.”

Electoral Reform Services, an independent ballot administrator, issued 48,000 voting papers. Of these, almost 14,600 people cast votes by post or electronically. The 30.39 per cent turnout topped that in the constituency’s last local elections. And the number of votes cast was just 2,200 below the total that secured the sitting MP’s seat in 2010.

Turnout then was 59 per cent, with Tory Jackie Doyle-Price – who last year voted in the Commons against a referendum – winning 16,869 votes to snatch a wafer-thin majority of 92 over her Labour rival.

Meanwhile, yesterday’s result will fuel rumours starting to swirl at Westminster that the Government is exploring the possibility of holding some kind of Europe referendum on the date of the planned 2015 general election, or that Conservatives could commit in their manifesto to holding a vote.